Polypeptide-trichloroacetic acid spinning solution



United States Patent PonYPEPrmE-momoRoAoErrIc 1 ACID, SPINNING SOLUTION Clement Henry Bamford and William Edward Hanby, Maidenhead; England; assignorsfio (lourtaulds l'sim ted, London England, a-Britjsh company Nofnrawing ApplicatiomMay 50i SerialzNua 159,391.

priomit a ppli afiqn reatlirit inMay 29, .1949.

4 Claims. ((31. z60-29,2)-

as. fyf 1 913- hs genera R1132; nd; Rs; ein hy ro e at m or. a ky yl o ata ky r u wh chmav el u t u ed on s bst mted- "he tshss ha i alr ady-- eported. n- Bericht i a 41 (1968), page 1721, that glycine carbonicanhydride (in t lLRia r and n efabqve f mula r h erpqlyme ed y atm n with aa sm ll proportion of water either a t- IfQQ Il l;t lI 1pIattlI orbyheating, e: golymeri e iom r ngs pmnan sdi yevol t n of carbon dioxide. T. Curtius angLW. Sieher in Berichte, vol. 55 (1922), page 1543, reported that'other anhyh s a nins-as da @9 43 be used. specified examples "being anhydrocarboxy-DL-ot-amino-n-butyr c acid and anhydrocarhoxy Dlqphenylalaning. Wessely, in the Ze i t schrift fiir Physiologische Chemie, vol. 146 (1925); page 172, reportedthata base such as pyr d ne may also'be-used asaninitiator for. the polymerisation. R: B Woodyvard'a-nd C. H. Schramin, in th llq ltnal; of the Ameriean-Chemioal' Society, vol; 69 (19.4 71); pages 1 551r2, reportedthatsynthetie polypeptides and t copolymeric peptides may-be obtained-frqrn one or moreanhydrocarbo'xy-amino-aeids having the 7 general formula;

us ng s mni i or. water. any. ub an e, nwh

H is 'an active hydrogen atom; a copolymericpeptide, from an dt ath x rb e siaa nd. anhY WarbQXr'QL-Rh ylalanine using'water as an i itiator, is specifically described. W. T. Astbury, Ct E: Dalgliesh, S. E. Darmon and G. B. B. M. Sutherland, following on the work of Woodward and Schramm, reported in Nature, vol. 162 (1948), No. 4120, pages 596-9, that they had prepared polypeptides from single amino acids and copolymers of two or more amino acids using a tertiary base as initiator; amino acids specified are glycine, sarcosine, DL-alanine, L-alanine, L-valine, DL-leucine, D-leucine, L-leucine, DL- isoleucine, D-isoleucine, L-isoleucine, DL-norleucine, DL- a-phenylglycine, DL-phenylalanine, L-phenylalanine and L-tyrosine.

It is the object of the present invention to produce fibres from synthetic polypeptides.

The present invention relates to the production of fibres from synthetic polypeptides and comprises a spinning solution of the polypeptide in a solvent consisting of or comprising a major proportion of a monohydric phenol, a lower aliphatic carboxylic acid, a halogen-substituted lower aliphatic acid or mixtures of these comice acidand l part by Weight f dichloracetic acid. The-sch vents or solvent mixtures may also containproportions of diluents which, although not strictly solvents for the polypeptides, do not act asscoagulants in the proportions sed. Ex mples. su h.- diluents a e ate benz n he. polypeptide s lution are pref a yr spuna thoughlhe ay he y p n de re r e a ev nto ot i r etv sn nn nst hep eferred cqagula ts are hydroxyl-containing compounds. such as water, the lower alcohols, for example methyl alcohol and ethyl alcohol, and aqueous solutions of such alcohols; other coagulants, 9; example th t tps t um. h m yv lso he us d lone, Qn mQnjunctbn' ha lower o he: c n s trat gn of e polyp p solut nv no r tieal nd, solutions qnta nina r o p en bxweisht. f tzqlypeptide h en e ded. a isf cty.

i-j e S luti n. f; he P ep d m y. be ted o. a temperature higher than that of the non-solvent precipitatina i th- Fibres obtained by the process according to the invention using formic acid as solventgenerally have a B'configuration whereas fibres obtained using phenols, dichloracetio acid:andxtri-chloracetic acid as solvents generally have: an. m configuration; The. polypeptides usedin the present invention. are. preferably those obtained according. to the process. described. in. application. Serial No. 159,392,: of: even date and now. Patent No 2,598,372.

Thepresent; inventionis illustrated by the following examples in which percentages are by weight:

Example I J/IOILDIO] Off anhydrocarboxy-DUB-phenylalanine and fi molzof'the gamma-methyl esterof anhydrocarboxymol of anhydrocarboxy-DL-fi-phenylalanine. was addd:to:,pur-ified nitrobenzene. (IO'cubic centimetres.) containing n H1011 of N;-(tx-aminmB-phenyhpropionyl)- dimethylamine Afterv 3:.days at 50- centigrade the. polyrenas-precipitated" with petrol; washedzwith petrol and iii-.1.

The synthetic polypeptide was dissolved in-metacresol at 50 Centigrade to form a 15 per cent solution. The solution was heated to centigrade and extruded into a bath or" ethyl alcohol at ordinary temperature (approximately 20' Centigrade). The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

Example 3 A copolymer of DL-fl-phenylalanine with the gammamethyl ester of L-glutamic acid prepared as described in Example 1 was dissolved in formic acid to form a 15 per cent solution. The solution was then extruded at ordinary temperature (20 centigrade) into a bath of water. The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

Example 4 A copolymer of DL-B-phenylalanine with a-aminoisobutyric acid prepared from ,5 mol of anhydrocarboxy- DL-fi-phenylalanine and 4 mol of anhydrocarboxy-aaminoisobutyric acid and mol of N-(arninoacetyl)- dimethylamine as described in application Serial No. 159,392 of even date was dissolved in a mixture of 90 per cent by weight of trichloracetic acid and per cent by weight of water to form a per cent solution. The solution was then extruded at ordinary temperature centigrade) into water, alcohol or a mixture of equal parts of water and alcohol. The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

Example 5 The polymeric DL-B-phenylalanine used in Example 2 was dissolved in dichloracetic acid to form a 15 per cent solution. The solution was then extruded at ordinary temperature (20 centigrade) into a bath of water. The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

Example 6 The copolymer used in Example 1 was dissolved in a mixture of 90 per cent of phenol and 10 per cent of water to form a 10 per cent solution and the solution was extruded at 20 centigrade into a bath of methyl alcohol. The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

Example 8 The polymeric DL-fl-phenylalanine used in Example 2 was dissolved in dichloracetic acid to form a 10 per cent solution and the solution was extruded at 20 centigrade into a bath of alcohol.

collected continuously.

Example 9 The copolymer used in Example 1 was dissolved in a mixture of 90 per cent of trichloracetic acid and 10 per cent of water to form a 10 per cent solution and the solution was extruded at 20 centigrade into a bath containing a mixture of equal volumes of water and ethyl alcohol. The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

Example 10 The copolymer used in Example 1 was dissolved in a mixture of 75 per cent of trichloracetic acid and per cent of dichloracetic acid to form a 10 per cent solution and the solution was extruded at 20 centigrade into a bath containing a mixture of equal volumes of water and methyl alcohol. The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, pased through a drier and v 4 Example 11 The copolymer of DL-valine and a-amino-isobutyric acid prepared as described in Example 5 of application Serial No. 159,392 was dissolved in formic acid to form a 15 per cent solution and the solution was extruded at 20 centigrade into a bath of water. The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

Example 12 A polymer of DL-valine prepared by the method described in application Serial No. 159,392 using N-(aminoacetyl)-dimethylamine as initiator was dissolved in dichloracetic acid to form a 15 per cent solution and the solution was extruded at 20 centigrade into a bath of water. The fibres so produced were withdrawn from the bath, passed through a drier and collected continuously.

What we claim is:

1. A composition of matter comprising a spinning solution of a polypeptide in a liquid consisting of a mixture of dichloroacetic acid and trichloroacetic acid, said polypeptide being the reaction product of polymerizing at least one DL anhydrocarboxy alpha amino acid in solution, in the presence of an initiator having an active hydrogen atom, in a proportion such that the molecular ratio of initiator to anhydrocarboxyamino acid is one to at least 350.

2. A composition of matter comprising a spinning solution of a polypeptide in a liquid consisting essentially of trichloroacetic acid and a diluent in a proportion not exceeding 10% based on the weight of the liquid, said polypeptide being the reaction product of polymerizing at least one DL anhydrocarboxy alpha amino acid in solution, in the presence of an initiator having an active hydrogen atom, in a proportion such that the molecular ratio of initiator to anhydrocarboxyamino acid is one to at least 350.

3. A composition of matter as claimed in claim 2 in which the diluent is selected from the group consisting of water, benzene, and chloroform.

4. A composition of matter as claimed in claim 3 in which the diluent is water.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,936,753 Dreyfus et a1 Nov. 28, 1933 2,318,704 Moncriefi et al May 11, 1943 2,516,162 Tullock July 25, 1950 2,540,855 Tullock Feb. 6, 1951 2,590,642 Nichols Mar. 25, 1952 2,592,447 MacDonald Apr. 8, 1952 2,598,372 Hanby et al May 27, 1952 2,612,487 Miegel Sept. 30, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 675,299 Great Britain July 9, 1952 OTHER REFERENCES Bamford et al., Nature, October 29, 1949, No. 4174, pages 751 and 752.

Woodward et al., Journal Amer. Chem. Soc., vol. 69, June 1947, pp. 1551 and 1552. 

1. A COMPOSITION OF MATTER COMPRISING A SPINNING SOLUTION OF A POLYPEPTIDE IN A LIQUID CONSISTING OF A MIXTURE OF DICHLOROACETIC ACID AND TRICHLOROACETIC ACID, SAID POLYPEPTIDE BEING THE REACTION PRODUCT OF POLYMERIZING AT LEAST ONE DL ANHYDROCARBOXY ALPHA AMINO ACID IN SOLUTION, IN THE PRESENCE OF AN INITIATOR HAVING AN ACTIVE HYDROGEN ATOM, IN A PROPORTION SUCH THAT THE MOLECULAR RATIO OF INITIATOR TO ANHYDROCARBOXYAMINO ACID IS ONE TO AT LEAST
 350. 